The Texas Tone® D5E Combo

The soul of a ‘57. The guts of Texas.

Vintage Spirit. Modern Confidence.

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The Texas Tone® D5E is our refined take on the legendary 5E3 Tweed Deluxe — built for players who crave vintage touch sensitivity but demand stage-ready reliability and versatility. We’ve kept the heart of the original, tamed its bad habits, and added subtle tweaks that make it a joy in both the studio and on stage..

The Fender 5E3 Tweed Deluxe is a legendary amp for its touch sensitivity and harmonically rich breakup, but it also has some quirks (and outright flaws) that owners often run into. Many of these are the result of its original late-’50s design.

Why It Stands Out

• Authentic Tweed Voice – retains the harmonic richness and touch response of the original 5E3.
• Pedal-Friendly – tighter low end and switchable NFB make it a natural with drives, delays, and reverbs.
• Gig-Ready Headroom –cleaner and more reliable without losing vintage character.

Here’s a breakdown of common issues and traits:

1. Excessive Low-End Flub - At higher volumes—especially with humbuckers—the bass can get loose and muddy.
2. Limited Clean Headroom - Breaks up early, often around 3–4 on the dial.
3. Phase Inverter Overdrive - Harshness or fizz when cranked past 8–9.
4. Noisy - Crackling, ringing, or hiss.
5. Limited tube life.

The Texas Tone D5E overcomes these guitarist objections.

1. Excessive Low-End Flub. We cut the flub, and maintain the 5E3 vibe and dynamic touch-sensitivity with tone you can feel. We tighten the bass without killing the character.
2. Limited Clean Headroom - Careful component selection gives you more clean headroom and maintains the characteristic overdrive tone of the original.
3. Phase Inverter Overdrive - We fixed it. You will feel it! We keeps PI type, just refine the clipping.
4. Noise - Modern electrical engineering grounding techniques drastically reduce the noise floor of the amp. Low noise resistors throughout exhibit less hiss and are more stable.
5. Longer tube life. Industry standard screen grid capacitors -missing on the 5E3- protect the power tubes and output transformer from failures. The 5E3 also tends to have over-biased power tubes, exacerbated by too-high B+ voltages in modern times, shortening power tube life. We use correct power tube bias to both hit the well-known tweed Deluxe tone without over-tasking the power tubes.

With the Texas Tone® D5e, you get a highly portable 12-Watt combo amp that can get that sweet and creamy tube crunch, perfect for Indie, blues, country, pop, and rock, whether on stage, in the studio, or at home. It loves to be played wide open, controlled by the guitarist's hands!

• Select tubes in each position:
  • JJ 6V6S Matched Power Tubes
  • JJ 12AY7 preamp
  • 12AY7 is the original design
  • A 12AX7 is optional for more gain
  • JJ 12AX7 driver
  • JJ 5Y3S tube rectifier
• Three-way voicing switch
• Standard 5E3
Reduced gain - helpful if using a 12AX7 preamp
• Cleaner, less distorion.
• Lacquered Tweed Cabinet
• High and Low gain inputs
• Enhanced Bright and Normal channels.
• Volume and Tone controls
• Cathode Biased 12-Watt Output
• Rugged Steel Chassis
• Low-noise resistors
• Shielded cables.
• Includes Custom Amp Cover.
• Jensen C12Q Speaker** equipped. A( ToneSpeak Austin 1250 optional)

The Texas Tone Amps Texas Tone® D5E handwired tube amp from Austin, Texas — crafted for guitarists who know the difference.

Complete amplifier, built by hand in Austin, Texas by Texas Tone Amps $1,995.00.

Inquire for current lead times. For more information or to place an order, please

Email us: to inquire.

All specifications subject to change based on selected options.

Notes:

* Exclusive Double Mica spacers in the top of the tube to reduce rattle in combo amps!

** The C12Q is the standard 5E3 speaker. Why the C12Q over some of those famous, expensive speakers? Read the reviews:

I have a 1966 Fender Deluxe Reverb who's speaker gave up the ghost... I purchased a C12Q for my amp. When I fired that baby up with the new speaker it was like a trip back in time. The tone was tight, focused and warm, all the things a great Fender Deluxe should be...

[I] installed a Jensen Vintage Ceramic C12Q last year in a 5E3 tweed Deluxe kit amp. I tried other speakers to include small plug magnet alnicos. But the sound of the C12Q works the best for all volume levels of this amp. I tried the more powerful ceramics and they sounded muddy at lower to moderate volumes. The light weight alnicos sounded too thin and had no punchy bass. IMO The C12Q is just right for all volumes and it realy handles the higher volume crunch very well: No flubby bass, and no crackling... the C12Q does better than more expensive speakers in a 5E3.